With more than one million page views and more than 4,000 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The California pay-for-eggs bill
today generated a feature article that said the legislation has
“sparked an unusual lineup of partisans on both sides and resonates
far beyond” the Golden State.

The piece by Alex Mathews on Capitol
Weekly, a news service specializing in California government and
political coverage, said,

“(C)omplicating the issue is
California’s role as a national leader in stem cell research, the
existential question of who or what constitutes a research subject,
and finally, the fact that compensation for fertility purposes is and
has been legal for years in California.”

Mathews was writing about the measure
(AB926) by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, that removes a ban
in California on paying women for eggs for scientific research.
Currently women can be paid in California for providing eggs for IVF.
The measure would not alter a ban on compensation for eggs in
research financed by the $3 billion California stem cell agency.
However, later this month, the agency will consider modifying its position somewhat.

The bill has passed the legislature and
is on its way to Gov. Jerry Brown. The industry association
sponsoring the bill expects the governor to sign it later this month
although the governor, as a general rule, does not make public
commitments on legislation.

Mathews' article covered the background
and arguments on the bill and noted that it has received little
mainstream media attention.

Lisa Ikemoto
UC Davis photo

She also quoted LisaIkemoto, a law
professor and bioethicist at UC Davis, on the sensitive nature of the
issue. Ikemoto said,

“On the fertility side, it’s
politically hard to touch because it’s all around family formation.
Nobody wants to restrict family formation. On the research side, when
the issue of payment for eggs came up, it was connected with human
embryonic stem cell research, and human embryonic stem cell research
was politicized from the outset.”

Mathews also wrote about the strange
bedfellows opposing the bill. She said,

“Groups that fundamentally oppose
stem cell research such as the California Catholic Conference and
other pro-life groups are natural opponents of the bill, but they are
joined by a number of pro-choice groups who expressed concerns over
the limited research on the effects of egg donation on women’s
health.”

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.